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Mark Moxon's Travel Writing

Australia: Nambung (Pinnacles Desert)

The Pinnacles Desert
The Pinnacles Desert is surrounded by gently rolling coastal dunes

My first destination after Perth was Cervantes, some 200km north up the coast and home to the incomparable Nambung National Park. It was also home to serious amounts of wind and torrential rain – it was obviously payback time for all the good weather I've been having, as it was all I could do to get the tent pegged down in time for the downpour. The rain out here comes in very short, very sharp bursts; it may only rain for one minute, but you'll be soaked to the skin by the time the rain stops, and there's absolutely no warning that it's about to rain. It's like there's someone up there with a tap, and this is the time of year he gets to play with it. Then again, this is a desert, so you can't really complain when it does rain; the poor place really needs the water.

A collection of limestone stacks
The limestone stacks of Nambung range from small and stumpy...
A tall limestone stack
...to many metres tall